Tom Barnes's Blog: Tom's 'RocktheTower' Blog - Posts Tagged "mitchell"
Final Four: Clark Gable, Vivian Leigh, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland
Final Four: Clark Gable, Vivian Leigh, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland
Let’s Go to the Movies
Part 9
Final tests for Scarlett
Never letting an opportunity go to waste Selznick instructed that the characters playing opposite Scarlett in all the tests be cast in a way that would highlight and help to narrow the search for Ashley and Mammy.
Of course Leslie Howard was still the likely choice for Ashley but as a backup Selznick instructed his casting people to use Melvyn Douglas, Ray Milland, Richard Carlson and Shepard Strudwick to alternate working opposite Scarlett in the four tests.
There were at least three people vying for the Mammy role that would do the same in her scenes with Hattie McDaniel, Hattie Noel and Louise Beavers.
During late December and early January the Selznick Casting department probably put out more calls for lead and feature players than did Central Casting for extras during that same period.
And while negotiations were going on behind the scenes for several leads and feature players the only ones mentioned by Selznick during the period was in a note to Kay Brown in New York about the casting of Scarlett’s mother Ellen. The candidates for that role were Lillian Gish And Cornelia Otis Skinner in New York and Barbara O’Neil in California.
The clock was running out on an arbitrary date set by David Selznick for general photography to begin on GWTW. As I said earlier negotiations were ongoing, but the only principals assigned to the picture at that time were Clark Gable, George Cukor, the director who was on shaky grounds and Bill Menzies, the art director putting in long days and turning out beautiful sets.
Following Sidney Howard’s refusal to accompany Selznick to Bermuda and work on the GWTW screenplay Selznick turned to Oliver Garrett for help. Within a week Selznick commissioned Garrett to do a complete rewrite of the Howard work. In several respects it turned out to be a good move since Garrett was a good storyteller and his continuity was excellent. Howard’s script was strong on individual scene development and with Selznick’s input, in the end; they essentially merged the two screenplays into one.
During the first week of January 1939 the selection of the four major cast members had been made. However press releases announcing the cast had not gone out pending final contract agreements and signings. The decision had been made that Clark Gable, Vivian Leigh, Leslie Howard and Olivia de Havilland would be the marquee headliners and stars of Gone With the Wind.
David Selznick was not only one of Hollywood’s top producers he was great in another field, public relations and showmanship. What PT Barnham was to ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’ David Selznick was to Hollywood movies. During the year of 1938 Selznick used the whole country as one giant pool of talent aimed at a casting call for Gone With the Wind. Of course the characters drawing the most attention was Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler. Selznick’s well-publicized casting calls were an ongoing campaign to promote a motion picture that was already being talked about as the greatest picture of the century.
All that being said, the first two weeks in January 1939 casting for Gone With the Wind was virtually complete. The only two characters of any consequence not cast were Belle Watling, Rhett’s friend the madam, and Frank Kennedy, Scarlett’s second husband.
On Friday January 13, 1939 the David Selznick International Pictures publicity department began churning out press releases reflecting members of the cast and crew that would be involved in the making of Gone With the Wind.
(To be continued)
Gone With the Wind and Doc Holliday Connection:
(Continued)
Perhaps Margaret Mitchell’s papers could shed some light on the subject, so the next day I drove over to the Atlanta Historical Society. I said to the lady behind the counter, “I understand Margaret Mitchell’s papers are here. Is there any way that I could take a look at them?” The lady smiled. “They were here, but recently they were moved to The University of Georgia and at the present time they can’t be seen.”
That wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but I figured they might have something so I asked hopefully, “Do you have anything at all on Ms. Mitchell?”
“Very little, but we do have one small folder. Would you like to see it?”
I nodded. The lady produced a folder with three or four pieces of paper inside. There was one full page that was in Margaret Mitchell’s own hand, and it was dated April 6, 1937.
Misc. details of interest:
Maternal great grandfather - Philip Fitzgerald born 1798 at Lagistown Parish of Nagraphin, Tipperary Co. Ireland.
Died 1880 Clayton Co. Georgia. Married near Columbus Ga.
Fraternal great grandmother - Eleanor McGhan, born Locust Grove, Taliaferro Co. Ga. in 1818, died Clayton Co. Ga. in 1893.
Call it fate or whatever you like, I could not have asked for better luck. That scrap of paper was the key to what I had been looking for. Why Margaret Mitchell didn't wish to discuss her characters with David Selznick. Autobiographical! She simply had not wanted it known how close her story came to true life and her own family heritage.
The name Philip Fitzgerald jumped off the page and into its proper place, he was Margaret Mitchell’s great grandfather and Sister Mary Melanie’s great uncle. My cast of characters taken from research began to merge with “Gone With the Wind’s” fictional characters. Of course Sister Mary Melanie was not a fictional character she was, in fact, Margaret Mitchell’s cousin.
It was common knowledge in Atlanta that Ms. Mitchell paid regular visits to Sister Melanie, at St Joseph’s Infirmary located on Peachtree Street, most every Saturday afternoon.
Margaret Mitchell’s research abilities and dedication to the subject led her to interview just about every living Civil War Veteran in the state of Georgia. She spent countless weeks at Atlanta’s Carnegie Library and many hours listening to and making notes as Sister Melanie tells about life during those early years.
No one in the Atlanta literary community called her Margaret it was always Peggy Mitchell. And from what I had heard about that petite lady the name Peggy seemed to fit very nicely.
(To be continued.)
Writers Notebook:
From Hemingway’s ‘A Moveable Feast.’
‘My Old Man’ and ‘Up in Michigan’ were the only two manuscripts he had left …’when everything I had written was stolen in Hadley’s suitcase that time at the Gare de Lyon when she was bringing the manuscripts down to me at Lausanne as a surprise…’
Hemingway was devastated by the loss of that material, but in his effort to recapture some of his spirit and begin writing again, he started with …’a very simple story called ‘Out of Season’ and I had omitted the real end of it which was that the old man hanged himself. This was omitted on my new theory that you could omit anything if you knew that you omitted it and the omitted part would strengthen the story and make the people feel something more than they understood.’
Now whether Hemingway pursued that exact theory or not, I don’t know. Nonetheless he did believe in leaving out anything that didn’t move the story line forward. For example, he once talked about that subject and said that in his short story ‘The Killers’ he left out the whole city of Chicago. Now there was a good reason for that omission and I suspect there are others.
Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com
Let’s Go to the Movies
Part 9
Final tests for Scarlett
Never letting an opportunity go to waste Selznick instructed that the characters playing opposite Scarlett in all the tests be cast in a way that would highlight and help to narrow the search for Ashley and Mammy.
Of course Leslie Howard was still the likely choice for Ashley but as a backup Selznick instructed his casting people to use Melvyn Douglas, Ray Milland, Richard Carlson and Shepard Strudwick to alternate working opposite Scarlett in the four tests.
There were at least three people vying for the Mammy role that would do the same in her scenes with Hattie McDaniel, Hattie Noel and Louise Beavers.
During late December and early January the Selznick Casting department probably put out more calls for lead and feature players than did Central Casting for extras during that same period.
And while negotiations were going on behind the scenes for several leads and feature players the only ones mentioned by Selznick during the period was in a note to Kay Brown in New York about the casting of Scarlett’s mother Ellen. The candidates for that role were Lillian Gish And Cornelia Otis Skinner in New York and Barbara O’Neil in California.
The clock was running out on an arbitrary date set by David Selznick for general photography to begin on GWTW. As I said earlier negotiations were ongoing, but the only principals assigned to the picture at that time were Clark Gable, George Cukor, the director who was on shaky grounds and Bill Menzies, the art director putting in long days and turning out beautiful sets.
Following Sidney Howard’s refusal to accompany Selznick to Bermuda and work on the GWTW screenplay Selznick turned to Oliver Garrett for help. Within a week Selznick commissioned Garrett to do a complete rewrite of the Howard work. In several respects it turned out to be a good move since Garrett was a good storyteller and his continuity was excellent. Howard’s script was strong on individual scene development and with Selznick’s input, in the end; they essentially merged the two screenplays into one.
During the first week of January 1939 the selection of the four major cast members had been made. However press releases announcing the cast had not gone out pending final contract agreements and signings. The decision had been made that Clark Gable, Vivian Leigh, Leslie Howard and Olivia de Havilland would be the marquee headliners and stars of Gone With the Wind.
David Selznick was not only one of Hollywood’s top producers he was great in another field, public relations and showmanship. What PT Barnham was to ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’ David Selznick was to Hollywood movies. During the year of 1938 Selznick used the whole country as one giant pool of talent aimed at a casting call for Gone With the Wind. Of course the characters drawing the most attention was Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler. Selznick’s well-publicized casting calls were an ongoing campaign to promote a motion picture that was already being talked about as the greatest picture of the century.
All that being said, the first two weeks in January 1939 casting for Gone With the Wind was virtually complete. The only two characters of any consequence not cast were Belle Watling, Rhett’s friend the madam, and Frank Kennedy, Scarlett’s second husband.
On Friday January 13, 1939 the David Selznick International Pictures publicity department began churning out press releases reflecting members of the cast and crew that would be involved in the making of Gone With the Wind.
(To be continued)
Gone With the Wind and Doc Holliday Connection:
(Continued)
Perhaps Margaret Mitchell’s papers could shed some light on the subject, so the next day I drove over to the Atlanta Historical Society. I said to the lady behind the counter, “I understand Margaret Mitchell’s papers are here. Is there any way that I could take a look at them?” The lady smiled. “They were here, but recently they were moved to The University of Georgia and at the present time they can’t be seen.”
That wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but I figured they might have something so I asked hopefully, “Do you have anything at all on Ms. Mitchell?”
“Very little, but we do have one small folder. Would you like to see it?”
I nodded. The lady produced a folder with three or four pieces of paper inside. There was one full page that was in Margaret Mitchell’s own hand, and it was dated April 6, 1937.
Misc. details of interest:
Maternal great grandfather - Philip Fitzgerald born 1798 at Lagistown Parish of Nagraphin, Tipperary Co. Ireland.
Died 1880 Clayton Co. Georgia. Married near Columbus Ga.
Fraternal great grandmother - Eleanor McGhan, born Locust Grove, Taliaferro Co. Ga. in 1818, died Clayton Co. Ga. in 1893.
Call it fate or whatever you like, I could not have asked for better luck. That scrap of paper was the key to what I had been looking for. Why Margaret Mitchell didn't wish to discuss her characters with David Selznick. Autobiographical! She simply had not wanted it known how close her story came to true life and her own family heritage.
The name Philip Fitzgerald jumped off the page and into its proper place, he was Margaret Mitchell’s great grandfather and Sister Mary Melanie’s great uncle. My cast of characters taken from research began to merge with “Gone With the Wind’s” fictional characters. Of course Sister Mary Melanie was not a fictional character she was, in fact, Margaret Mitchell’s cousin.
It was common knowledge in Atlanta that Ms. Mitchell paid regular visits to Sister Melanie, at St Joseph’s Infirmary located on Peachtree Street, most every Saturday afternoon.
Margaret Mitchell’s research abilities and dedication to the subject led her to interview just about every living Civil War Veteran in the state of Georgia. She spent countless weeks at Atlanta’s Carnegie Library and many hours listening to and making notes as Sister Melanie tells about life during those early years.
No one in the Atlanta literary community called her Margaret it was always Peggy Mitchell. And from what I had heard about that petite lady the name Peggy seemed to fit very nicely.
(To be continued.)
Writers Notebook:
From Hemingway’s ‘A Moveable Feast.’
‘My Old Man’ and ‘Up in Michigan’ were the only two manuscripts he had left …’when everything I had written was stolen in Hadley’s suitcase that time at the Gare de Lyon when she was bringing the manuscripts down to me at Lausanne as a surprise…’
Hemingway was devastated by the loss of that material, but in his effort to recapture some of his spirit and begin writing again, he started with …’a very simple story called ‘Out of Season’ and I had omitted the real end of it which was that the old man hanged himself. This was omitted on my new theory that you could omit anything if you knew that you omitted it and the omitted part would strengthen the story and make the people feel something more than they understood.’
Now whether Hemingway pursued that exact theory or not, I don’t know. Nonetheless he did believe in leaving out anything that didn’t move the story line forward. For example, he once talked about that subject and said that in his short story ‘The Killers’ he left out the whole city of Chicago. Now there was a good reason for that omission and I suspect there are others.
Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com
Margaret Mitchell, Edna Ferber and The Goring Collection
Researching a Legend Part 7
‘Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone’
Once inside the Atlanta Historical Society building I approached the desk and asked a young lady about the Margaret Mitchell papers.
She thought for a moment and said, ‘We had a collection of her papers until two weeks ago when the Mitchell Estate had them transferred to the University of Georgia in Athens. And from what we’ve heard, for the time being they are sealed and can’t be viewed.’
I expect I showed my disappointment at the news and thought, another dead end. But I did follow up and asked, ‘Do you have any material relating to Margaret Mitchell biographical or otherwise.
The young lady smiled. ‘It’s not much, but we do have one small file folder. Would you like to see it?’
‘Yes I would.’
Moments later she came back with a small folder and said, ‘I’m sorry but that’s all we have.’ Then she pointed to a table with chairs and said, ‘You’re welcome to read the file.’
‘Thanks.’
I moved to the table, pulled a chair out and sat down. I opened the file and immediately saw why the young lady was reluctant to even bring it out. There were no more than half a dozen scraps of paper inside the folder.
I thumbed through the material and found an interesting letter sized hand written memo signed by Margaret Mitchell.
The heading read:
Miscellaneous details of interest.
Maternal great grandfather – Philip Fitzgerald born 1798 at Lagistown Parish of Nagraphin, Tipperary Co. Ireland.
Died 1880 Clayton Co. Georgia
Married near Columbus, Ga
Maternal great grandmother – Eleanor McGhan, born Locust Grove, Taliaferro Co.
Ga in 1818, died Clayton Co. Ga in 1893…
Signed and dated April 6, 1937
Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell (Mrs. John R. Marsh)
I was dumbfounded at what I’d just seen. Was it fate that brought me to this place? How was that key piece of information left behind while they hauled away boxes of papers to the University of Georgia?
I’ll never know the answer, but there it was. Margaret Mitchell, author of ‘Gone With the Wind’ had sealed in her own hand the kinship connection to her cousin Sister Mary Melanie.
Through prior research I was aware that Philip Fitzgerald was Mattie Holliday’s great uncle. So the relationship was that they were third cousins and good friends.
(To be continued)
The Goring Collection
Prologue Part 6
Following Alexei's departure Jacob meandered around the wharf for an hour filled with a mixture of anxiety and exhilaration. The shock of a possible recall to Moscow left him with a kind of nervous excitement. Jacob had never been prone to erratic behavior, but Alexei’s words had served as a wakeup call and jarred him out of his complacency. Lectures, parties and diplomatic functions had become a comfortable way of life filled with all style and no substance. Deep down Jacob knew he was in a rut and going nowhere. It had become obvious to him that that the Soviet Union and the great socialist experiment had failed. But what weighed heavily on Jacob's mind was the question of his own commitment to a new life. Had he truly renounced the communist system or was he simply jumping ship? Of course he had worked out a plan and everything was in place, with one exception, a timetable. Now, it appeared that Alexei had provided that last element and Jacob made the decision to take advantage of it.
He hurried toward his apartment but stopped on the way, stuffed some coins into a pay phone and dialed the Santa Barbara number. The phone rang and Natalie came on the line. Jacob talked in low tones. “You were right all along, Natalie. I was the stubborn fool.”
“What are you talking about, Jacob?”
“Communism! I’m finished with it.”
Natalie laughed and asked, “What have you been drinking, Jacob?”
“I’m serious, Natalie. I’ve decided to turn and become a bona fide American.”
Then after a quiet sob, and a deep breath, Natalie said with a smile in her voice. “It may not be proper over the phone, but I’d like to propose a toast. Here’s to my brother, the real Jacob Meyers that I always knew was there.” Then she stammered. “Wha…what are you going to do, Jacob?”
“I have a plan worked out and don’t worry about my personal safety. I’ll be all right, but for the time being I need to drop out of sight.”
"I've prayed for this day, Jacob, now please be careful," Natalie said tearfully.
"I'll do my best. Now I've got to run." As soon as he hung up the phone he raced back to the apartment and quickly packed up his papers and an overnight bag, turned out the lights, walked to the dock and took the ferry to Oakland. There he purchased a one-way bus ticket to Oklahoma City.
(To be continued)
Writers Notebook:
Edna Ferber, one of the Algonquin Round Table regulars was a talented and versatile writer. She teamed up with Round Table regular George S. Kaufman to write comedy and among Ferber’s many credits she wrote three major novels Giant, Cimarron and Show Boat, all of which became successful films.
Many Edna Ferber stories were based on her life experience. She related this one in one of her two autobiographies A Peculiar Treasure when she said, ‘In the beginning chapters of the novel Show Boat there is a description of the Mississippi at flood time. I found that I did not need to consult books or ask old timers to relate their river experiences. I just took my childhood memories of the Mississippi and the Des Moines at flood time out of the back of my head where they had been neatly stored for so many years and penned them down on paper.’
Hey writers, when stuck with that same kind of problem dig into the nooks and crannies of your personal library – you might be surprised what’s stored there.
Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com
www.thehurricanehunter.com
.
‘Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone’
Once inside the Atlanta Historical Society building I approached the desk and asked a young lady about the Margaret Mitchell papers.
She thought for a moment and said, ‘We had a collection of her papers until two weeks ago when the Mitchell Estate had them transferred to the University of Georgia in Athens. And from what we’ve heard, for the time being they are sealed and can’t be viewed.’
I expect I showed my disappointment at the news and thought, another dead end. But I did follow up and asked, ‘Do you have any material relating to Margaret Mitchell biographical or otherwise.
The young lady smiled. ‘It’s not much, but we do have one small file folder. Would you like to see it?’
‘Yes I would.’
Moments later she came back with a small folder and said, ‘I’m sorry but that’s all we have.’ Then she pointed to a table with chairs and said, ‘You’re welcome to read the file.’
‘Thanks.’
I moved to the table, pulled a chair out and sat down. I opened the file and immediately saw why the young lady was reluctant to even bring it out. There were no more than half a dozen scraps of paper inside the folder.
I thumbed through the material and found an interesting letter sized hand written memo signed by Margaret Mitchell.
The heading read:
Miscellaneous details of interest.
Maternal great grandfather – Philip Fitzgerald born 1798 at Lagistown Parish of Nagraphin, Tipperary Co. Ireland.
Died 1880 Clayton Co. Georgia
Married near Columbus, Ga
Maternal great grandmother – Eleanor McGhan, born Locust Grove, Taliaferro Co.
Ga in 1818, died Clayton Co. Ga in 1893…
Signed and dated April 6, 1937
Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell (Mrs. John R. Marsh)
I was dumbfounded at what I’d just seen. Was it fate that brought me to this place? How was that key piece of information left behind while they hauled away boxes of papers to the University of Georgia?
I’ll never know the answer, but there it was. Margaret Mitchell, author of ‘Gone With the Wind’ had sealed in her own hand the kinship connection to her cousin Sister Mary Melanie.
Through prior research I was aware that Philip Fitzgerald was Mattie Holliday’s great uncle. So the relationship was that they were third cousins and good friends.
(To be continued)
The Goring Collection
Prologue Part 6
Following Alexei's departure Jacob meandered around the wharf for an hour filled with a mixture of anxiety and exhilaration. The shock of a possible recall to Moscow left him with a kind of nervous excitement. Jacob had never been prone to erratic behavior, but Alexei’s words had served as a wakeup call and jarred him out of his complacency. Lectures, parties and diplomatic functions had become a comfortable way of life filled with all style and no substance. Deep down Jacob knew he was in a rut and going nowhere. It had become obvious to him that that the Soviet Union and the great socialist experiment had failed. But what weighed heavily on Jacob's mind was the question of his own commitment to a new life. Had he truly renounced the communist system or was he simply jumping ship? Of course he had worked out a plan and everything was in place, with one exception, a timetable. Now, it appeared that Alexei had provided that last element and Jacob made the decision to take advantage of it.
He hurried toward his apartment but stopped on the way, stuffed some coins into a pay phone and dialed the Santa Barbara number. The phone rang and Natalie came on the line. Jacob talked in low tones. “You were right all along, Natalie. I was the stubborn fool.”
“What are you talking about, Jacob?”
“Communism! I’m finished with it.”
Natalie laughed and asked, “What have you been drinking, Jacob?”
“I’m serious, Natalie. I’ve decided to turn and become a bona fide American.”
Then after a quiet sob, and a deep breath, Natalie said with a smile in her voice. “It may not be proper over the phone, but I’d like to propose a toast. Here’s to my brother, the real Jacob Meyers that I always knew was there.” Then she stammered. “Wha…what are you going to do, Jacob?”
“I have a plan worked out and don’t worry about my personal safety. I’ll be all right, but for the time being I need to drop out of sight.”
"I've prayed for this day, Jacob, now please be careful," Natalie said tearfully.
"I'll do my best. Now I've got to run." As soon as he hung up the phone he raced back to the apartment and quickly packed up his papers and an overnight bag, turned out the lights, walked to the dock and took the ferry to Oakland. There he purchased a one-way bus ticket to Oklahoma City.
(To be continued)
Writers Notebook:
Edna Ferber, one of the Algonquin Round Table regulars was a talented and versatile writer. She teamed up with Round Table regular George S. Kaufman to write comedy and among Ferber’s many credits she wrote three major novels Giant, Cimarron and Show Boat, all of which became successful films.
Many Edna Ferber stories were based on her life experience. She related this one in one of her two autobiographies A Peculiar Treasure when she said, ‘In the beginning chapters of the novel Show Boat there is a description of the Mississippi at flood time. I found that I did not need to consult books or ask old timers to relate their river experiences. I just took my childhood memories of the Mississippi and the Des Moines at flood time out of the back of my head where they had been neatly stored for so many years and penned them down on paper.’
Hey writers, when stuck with that same kind of problem dig into the nooks and crannies of your personal library – you might be surprised what’s stored there.
Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com
www.thehurricanehunter.com
.
The Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery
The Life and Times of John Henry Holliday
‘Doc Holliday’s gambling skills, six-gun and caustic wit created a western legend. But Sister Mary Melanie, Margaret Mitchell and ‘Gone With the Wind’ tell the rest of the story and give us the real Doc Holliday.’
'Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone' goes behind the scenes, that western myth has established over the years, and tells the truth about Doc Holliday's life in the east and the west.
Researching a Legend Part 9
Class of 1872
Continuing: The next memo was dated February 26, 1872. The board of trustees of The Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery met and endorsed the faculty’s nominations for graduation. And accompanying that memo was a modified hand written list of potential graduates. John H. Holliday…Georgia replaced J.H. Holliday.
Next was a printed list of graduates plus other information used to make up the graduation program. The head of that page simply stated:
Philadelphia Dental College.
Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery.
The 16th Annual Commencement of The Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery will be held at the Musical Fund Hall, Philadelphia, Friday evening, March 1, 1872
The Valedictory Address to be delivered by Professor James Tyson, M.D
The Number of matriculates for the session was 63.
Degrees of DDS was conferred on the following members of the graduating class by
Dr. W.W. Fouche:
Following that was a full list of the graduates. The only change to Doc’s description line on the printed edition was John H. Holliday…Georgia … then the addition of a title for his thesis, ‘Disease of the Teeth.’
There was one other page in the file and that was a replica of the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery graduation certificate presented to the graduates.
To say I was excited might be an understatement; I was giddy with excitement thinking about the past month of research. I had uncovered facts about Doc Holliday that had never been in print before. But as I sat musing about my good fortune in research I spotted a large framed plaque on the wall dedicated to Zane Grey. Grey was one of our most famous western writers. Zane Grey graduated from the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery with the class of 1895.
I thanked Dr. Whittock for his help asked his direction to Bookbinders, one of the old Philadelphia restaurant’s that was open and serving food in the 1800’s. I had lunch there and enjoyed the food along with the ambiance.
I spent the afternoon at the Philadelphia Historical Society and early that evening took a cab to the airport and a Delta Airlines flight to Atlanta.
(To be continued)
Doc Holliday's Birthday August 14, 1851
The intrepid Bill Dunn has assembled his full collection of Doc Holliday's memorabilia in one place. A new museum will open in Griffin, GA on Doc's birthday:
209 N. 13th Street
Griffin, Georgia, 30223
Phone 770 229-2705
Bill Dunn a distant cousin of Doc Holliday, is the museum cureator and has a great passion for his work. Bill has assembled a wonderful collection of documents, artwork, books, photographs, which includes a photo of Doc's boyhood home. The collection includes a number of items of interest from the period.
IF you find yourself in Central Georgia stop by the museum, take a look at the past and have a chat with Bill Dunn about the legendary Doc Holliday. You'll be glad you did.
Writers Notebook:
How my Writers Notebook got started. For a number of years I saved file copies of famous writers interviews or writings regarding their approach to writing.
Eventually I put them all in a binder. I believe Gustave Flaubert of Madame Bovary fame was one of my first entries. I took it from an obscure book of letters he wrote to friends where he talks a lot about his writing and especially his approach to Bovary.
Hemingway’s ‘A Moveable Feast’ was another early entry. I made copies of pages 12 and 13 of that book. In those two pages Hemingway made several good points about his approach to writing.
To begin, he said, ‘Write the truest sentence you know and go from there.’ As to work in progress he said. ‘I always worked until I had something done and I stopped when I knew what would happen next. That way I could be sure of going on the next day.’ Then he said something that really got my attention. ‘I learned not to think about anything I was writing from the time I stopped writing until I started again the next day. That way my subconscious would be working on it while at the same time I’d be listening to other people and noticing everything.
Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter. Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com
http://TheHurricaneHunter.blogspot.com
‘Doc Holliday’s gambling skills, six-gun and caustic wit created a western legend. But Sister Mary Melanie, Margaret Mitchell and ‘Gone With the Wind’ tell the rest of the story and give us the real Doc Holliday.’
'Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone' goes behind the scenes, that western myth has established over the years, and tells the truth about Doc Holliday's life in the east and the west.
Researching a Legend Part 9
Class of 1872
Continuing: The next memo was dated February 26, 1872. The board of trustees of The Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery met and endorsed the faculty’s nominations for graduation. And accompanying that memo was a modified hand written list of potential graduates. John H. Holliday…Georgia replaced J.H. Holliday.
Next was a printed list of graduates plus other information used to make up the graduation program. The head of that page simply stated:
Philadelphia Dental College.
Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery.
The 16th Annual Commencement of The Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery will be held at the Musical Fund Hall, Philadelphia, Friday evening, March 1, 1872
The Valedictory Address to be delivered by Professor James Tyson, M.D
The Number of matriculates for the session was 63.
Degrees of DDS was conferred on the following members of the graduating class by
Dr. W.W. Fouche:
Following that was a full list of the graduates. The only change to Doc’s description line on the printed edition was John H. Holliday…Georgia … then the addition of a title for his thesis, ‘Disease of the Teeth.’
There was one other page in the file and that was a replica of the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery graduation certificate presented to the graduates.
To say I was excited might be an understatement; I was giddy with excitement thinking about the past month of research. I had uncovered facts about Doc Holliday that had never been in print before. But as I sat musing about my good fortune in research I spotted a large framed plaque on the wall dedicated to Zane Grey. Grey was one of our most famous western writers. Zane Grey graduated from the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery with the class of 1895.
I thanked Dr. Whittock for his help asked his direction to Bookbinders, one of the old Philadelphia restaurant’s that was open and serving food in the 1800’s. I had lunch there and enjoyed the food along with the ambiance.
I spent the afternoon at the Philadelphia Historical Society and early that evening took a cab to the airport and a Delta Airlines flight to Atlanta.
(To be continued)
Doc Holliday's Birthday August 14, 1851
The intrepid Bill Dunn has assembled his full collection of Doc Holliday's memorabilia in one place. A new museum will open in Griffin, GA on Doc's birthday:
209 N. 13th Street
Griffin, Georgia, 30223
Phone 770 229-2705
Bill Dunn a distant cousin of Doc Holliday, is the museum cureator and has a great passion for his work. Bill has assembled a wonderful collection of documents, artwork, books, photographs, which includes a photo of Doc's boyhood home. The collection includes a number of items of interest from the period.
IF you find yourself in Central Georgia stop by the museum, take a look at the past and have a chat with Bill Dunn about the legendary Doc Holliday. You'll be glad you did.
Writers Notebook:
How my Writers Notebook got started. For a number of years I saved file copies of famous writers interviews or writings regarding their approach to writing.
Eventually I put them all in a binder. I believe Gustave Flaubert of Madame Bovary fame was one of my first entries. I took it from an obscure book of letters he wrote to friends where he talks a lot about his writing and especially his approach to Bovary.
Hemingway’s ‘A Moveable Feast’ was another early entry. I made copies of pages 12 and 13 of that book. In those two pages Hemingway made several good points about his approach to writing.
To begin, he said, ‘Write the truest sentence you know and go from there.’ As to work in progress he said. ‘I always worked until I had something done and I stopped when I knew what would happen next. That way I could be sure of going on the next day.’ Then he said something that really got my attention. ‘I learned not to think about anything I was writing from the time I stopped writing until I started again the next day. That way my subconscious would be working on it while at the same time I’d be listening to other people and noticing everything.
Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter. Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com
http://TheHurricaneHunter.blogspot.com
Transcript of Spicer Hearing and a Tip from Hemingway
Researching a Legend.
During my stay in Georgia the romance questions about young John Henry Holliday and his cousin Mattie were constant. And I suppose what kept the story alive was the differing opinions – was there a romance or not? Both sides were passionate in their beliefs either pro or con. Even a Catholic nun or two go into argument.
I was on the pro side and I made my case through the relationship between Margaret Mitchell and Mattie, Sister Mary Melanie once she took the vows. There was a close relationship between the writer and her cousin. Margaret paid weekly visits to Sister Melanie where they sometimes talked for hours sharing family stories. Now this could be coincidence but the name of Scarlett's first husband was Charles Hamilton, a name that was prominent on John Henry's graduation program as receiving an honorary degree. That as I said could be coincidence but Margaret Mitchell's story line in 'Gone With the Wind' Ellen O'Hara's early romantic tie to he cousin Philippe Robillard was not. And the fact that Ellen died with the the name Philippe on her lips were not lost on Mammy or this writer.
After Doc went west there were numerous letters written between Mattie and Doc Holliday that could play a part in my story.
In my first draft none of those things were prominent, but they should be.
I suppose I could talk about the romance angle in a prologue, but for now my mind was too clouded with the new facts I'd uncovered back east to do more than let it settle in. Taking a leaf from Hemingway's 'A Memorable Feast' regarding the subconscious and giving it time to work on the problem I decided to go to work on my other large question regarding what really happened after the shootout at the OK Corral?
The fact is Cochise County political ring and the cowboy's swore out a Warrant, in Ike Clanton's name, accusing the Earp's and Holliday for murder and hauled them into court.
Judge Wells Spicer called the hearing and it lasted 28 days. Now you'd think a 28 day court hearing would raise some interest and in some quarters it did, but it some how got lost on the biographers, historians and movie makers. Dozens of books and movies were done about Tombstone and the gunfight at the OK Corral, but little about the hearing.
As a storyteller I figured that a good courtroom battle would tell a lot more about Tombstone and its citizens in 1881 than the wild tales that had hardened into myth about what happened on the streets of Tombstone or who shot Johnny Ringo? It had to be factual though and it had to involve the attorneys, witnesses, defendants and the judge.
I read a book 'The OK Corral Inquest' edited by Alford E. Turner that told the story in a kind of oblique way. Not what I had in mind. 'Inquest' was based on court transcripts. The witnesses and Judge Spicer were prominent, but not the names of prosecution or defense attorneys .
The Tombstone newspapers, Epitaph and Nugget must have covered the trial, so I had to look around for copies published during that period. I had some copies of the Epitaph in my possession and I quickly realized that they didn't do much with the story. But what about the Nugget?
I recalled seeing a few copies of the Nugget at the Arizona Historical Society and gave them a call. Fortunately they had microfiche copies of about half of the Spicer Hearing. We made a deal and they sent me what they had.
I scanned a number of issues and I could immediately see that the Nugget did a great job in reporting on the business of silver mining in and around Tombstone. From what I could tell their reports on the industry were straight forward and objective. On the other hand there was no covering up the fact that the Nugget was in opposition to the Tombstone Safety Committee and law and order. They were a tool for the Cochise County ring and backed the cowboys.
It only took me a couple of days to realize that the Nugget had reported the the Spicer Hearings gavel to gavel. But did they report like they did the mining news or with a bias as was their custom in their general opinion and commentary on Tombstone life and politics.
That question had to be answered before I would take their court reporting seriously.
I started out by comparing the Nugget with what the Epitaph had to say in their sparse reporting. I next went to the Turner Inquest and compared line by line witness testimony. That was quite a long process. Then I took every mention of the Spicer Hearings from other sources and tested them against the court reporting in Inquest as well as the newspaper reports.
I finally concluded that the Nugget was reporting courtroom dialogue just as straight as they did the mining news.
Why they didn't appear to use their normal bias in favor of the cowboys, I didn't know. In any event I decided to work through the Spicer Hearings using the Nugget as my base, but to challenge every line.
Next I had to assemble the cast of characters for the courtroom drama. Judge Spicer and all the witnesses were in the court record along with the District Attorney Lyttleton Price and his chief assistant Earl Smith. Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp were there, Morgan and Virgil Earp were excluded because they were in bed recovering from wounds they received during the shootout.
Doc and Wyatt were at the defense table with their attorneys Tom Fitch and Judge T.J. Drum.
District Attorney Price was in the first chair at the prosecution table and to his right was his chief assistant Earl Smith next was Ike Clanton and his attorney Ben Goodrich sat at the end.
E.J. Risley was the court reporter and an unnamed bailiff was present.
From the first day of Judge Spicer's hearing to the last the gallery was filled with Tombstone partisans. They were in two groups split along political lines, which were articulated by the Tombstone Epitaph and Tombstone Nugget newspapers. And that split has remained over the years.
As a historical researcher and writer I recognized the task of getting the truth was going to be difficult. But I felt that if I could get a true transcript of what was actually said in that courtroom the drama would be real and not manufactured.
It was plain common sense and why some of the historians and movie makers hadn't tapped this wealth of material I don't know.
I am sure of one thing though, to have living witnesses tell what they saw on that day was crucial in getting at the facts of how it all happened that afternoon.
The news story went out by telegraph and for some reason captured the imagination of the public and still does.
Western fans from all over the world still flock to Tombstone – so why not let them know the truth about what actually happened?
(To be continued)
Writers Notebook:
A.E. Hotchner wrote in his book 'Papa Hemingway' that, ' During their general conversations apparently very few subjects were off limits. Most of Papa’s personal problems were discussed; he even talked about some of his writing techniques. Papa once said I discovered in writing The Sun Also Rises that it was easier to write in first person because you could involve the reader immediately. So I took that advantage with Farewell, but later in To Have and Have Not and For Whom the Bell Tolls, I used the third person; it's harder to write in third person but the advantage is that you move around better.'
There were actually two tips in this one. I was searching around for today's tip and found it in the flap of my large Writers Notebook. It was a rewrite page of my Papa Hemingway review. I went to my reviews to copy and paste the tip from the review. Well, it wasn't there. The hard copy I held in my hand was an early draft and the only way the tip survived. The final version in my computer files didn't have that portion of the review.
So you might give it some thought. Those scraps of paper you keep could make a difference.
Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com
http://TheHurricaneHunter.blogspot.com
During my stay in Georgia the romance questions about young John Henry Holliday and his cousin Mattie were constant. And I suppose what kept the story alive was the differing opinions – was there a romance or not? Both sides were passionate in their beliefs either pro or con. Even a Catholic nun or two go into argument.
I was on the pro side and I made my case through the relationship between Margaret Mitchell and Mattie, Sister Mary Melanie once she took the vows. There was a close relationship between the writer and her cousin. Margaret paid weekly visits to Sister Melanie where they sometimes talked for hours sharing family stories. Now this could be coincidence but the name of Scarlett's first husband was Charles Hamilton, a name that was prominent on John Henry's graduation program as receiving an honorary degree. That as I said could be coincidence but Margaret Mitchell's story line in 'Gone With the Wind' Ellen O'Hara's early romantic tie to he cousin Philippe Robillard was not. And the fact that Ellen died with the the name Philippe on her lips were not lost on Mammy or this writer.
After Doc went west there were numerous letters written between Mattie and Doc Holliday that could play a part in my story.
In my first draft none of those things were prominent, but they should be.
I suppose I could talk about the romance angle in a prologue, but for now my mind was too clouded with the new facts I'd uncovered back east to do more than let it settle in. Taking a leaf from Hemingway's 'A Memorable Feast' regarding the subconscious and giving it time to work on the problem I decided to go to work on my other large question regarding what really happened after the shootout at the OK Corral?
The fact is Cochise County political ring and the cowboy's swore out a Warrant, in Ike Clanton's name, accusing the Earp's and Holliday for murder and hauled them into court.
Judge Wells Spicer called the hearing and it lasted 28 days. Now you'd think a 28 day court hearing would raise some interest and in some quarters it did, but it some how got lost on the biographers, historians and movie makers. Dozens of books and movies were done about Tombstone and the gunfight at the OK Corral, but little about the hearing.
As a storyteller I figured that a good courtroom battle would tell a lot more about Tombstone and its citizens in 1881 than the wild tales that had hardened into myth about what happened on the streets of Tombstone or who shot Johnny Ringo? It had to be factual though and it had to involve the attorneys, witnesses, defendants and the judge.
I read a book 'The OK Corral Inquest' edited by Alford E. Turner that told the story in a kind of oblique way. Not what I had in mind. 'Inquest' was based on court transcripts. The witnesses and Judge Spicer were prominent, but not the names of prosecution or defense attorneys .
The Tombstone newspapers, Epitaph and Nugget must have covered the trial, so I had to look around for copies published during that period. I had some copies of the Epitaph in my possession and I quickly realized that they didn't do much with the story. But what about the Nugget?
I recalled seeing a few copies of the Nugget at the Arizona Historical Society and gave them a call. Fortunately they had microfiche copies of about half of the Spicer Hearing. We made a deal and they sent me what they had.
I scanned a number of issues and I could immediately see that the Nugget did a great job in reporting on the business of silver mining in and around Tombstone. From what I could tell their reports on the industry were straight forward and objective. On the other hand there was no covering up the fact that the Nugget was in opposition to the Tombstone Safety Committee and law and order. They were a tool for the Cochise County ring and backed the cowboys.
It only took me a couple of days to realize that the Nugget had reported the the Spicer Hearings gavel to gavel. But did they report like they did the mining news or with a bias as was their custom in their general opinion and commentary on Tombstone life and politics.
That question had to be answered before I would take their court reporting seriously.
I started out by comparing the Nugget with what the Epitaph had to say in their sparse reporting. I next went to the Turner Inquest and compared line by line witness testimony. That was quite a long process. Then I took every mention of the Spicer Hearings from other sources and tested them against the court reporting in Inquest as well as the newspaper reports.
I finally concluded that the Nugget was reporting courtroom dialogue just as straight as they did the mining news.
Why they didn't appear to use their normal bias in favor of the cowboys, I didn't know. In any event I decided to work through the Spicer Hearings using the Nugget as my base, but to challenge every line.
Next I had to assemble the cast of characters for the courtroom drama. Judge Spicer and all the witnesses were in the court record along with the District Attorney Lyttleton Price and his chief assistant Earl Smith. Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp were there, Morgan and Virgil Earp were excluded because they were in bed recovering from wounds they received during the shootout.
Doc and Wyatt were at the defense table with their attorneys Tom Fitch and Judge T.J. Drum.
District Attorney Price was in the first chair at the prosecution table and to his right was his chief assistant Earl Smith next was Ike Clanton and his attorney Ben Goodrich sat at the end.
E.J. Risley was the court reporter and an unnamed bailiff was present.
From the first day of Judge Spicer's hearing to the last the gallery was filled with Tombstone partisans. They were in two groups split along political lines, which were articulated by the Tombstone Epitaph and Tombstone Nugget newspapers. And that split has remained over the years.
As a historical researcher and writer I recognized the task of getting the truth was going to be difficult. But I felt that if I could get a true transcript of what was actually said in that courtroom the drama would be real and not manufactured.
It was plain common sense and why some of the historians and movie makers hadn't tapped this wealth of material I don't know.
I am sure of one thing though, to have living witnesses tell what they saw on that day was crucial in getting at the facts of how it all happened that afternoon.
The news story went out by telegraph and for some reason captured the imagination of the public and still does.
Western fans from all over the world still flock to Tombstone – so why not let them know the truth about what actually happened?
(To be continued)
Writers Notebook:
A.E. Hotchner wrote in his book 'Papa Hemingway' that, ' During their general conversations apparently very few subjects were off limits. Most of Papa’s personal problems were discussed; he even talked about some of his writing techniques. Papa once said I discovered in writing The Sun Also Rises that it was easier to write in first person because you could involve the reader immediately. So I took that advantage with Farewell, but later in To Have and Have Not and For Whom the Bell Tolls, I used the third person; it's harder to write in third person but the advantage is that you move around better.'
There were actually two tips in this one. I was searching around for today's tip and found it in the flap of my large Writers Notebook. It was a rewrite page of my Papa Hemingway review. I went to my reviews to copy and paste the tip from the review. Well, it wasn't there. The hard copy I held in my hand was an early draft and the only way the tip survived. The final version in my computer files didn't have that portion of the review.
So you might give it some thought. Those scraps of paper you keep could make a difference.
Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com
http://TheHurricaneHunter.blogspot.com
And Now The Rest of The Story
Researching a Legend Part 13
A phrase Paul Harvey made famous, 'the rest of the story' fits into the research and writing of 'Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone' and made it possible to tell all of the Doc Holliday story.'
It was a storytelling technique I hadn't considered until a New York editor suggested that I might write a story about the story. It made perfect sense once I thought about it. Now this part of the story would be pure fiction, which would be in another time and another place. However, the content of that part of the story would deal with the facts as they had actually happened years before.
Over a period of time I decided what kind of information the reader needed to make a connection between Doc Holliday's world in the 1800's and the current story about the story.
Doc's romantic interest Mattie Holliday, became a nun Sister Mary Melanie and lived until 1937. I had already determined that Sister Melanie and Margaret Mitchell were cousins as well as close friends. And during my research into the book 'Gone With the Wind' I became aware that Ms. Mitchell had used Sister Melanie's stories about hers and John Henry's life as background in establishing some of her characters in the book.
It would be great if I could sit down and talk to Margaret Mitchell, but that was impossible since she was killed in a tragic automobile accident in 1949.
Why not go to the source, Sister Mary Melanie? An interview or a series of interviews with Sister Melanie and a young reporter. The characters in my story about the story would now be an elderly journalist and a writer/producer researching the Doc Holliday story.
(To be continued)
2009 Horse Racing update:
There was no Triple Crown winner this year but there was still plenty of excitement about racing.
Birdstone, 2004 winner of the Belmont and Travers Stakes sired two of the 2009 racing stars Mine That Bird winner of the Kentucky Derby and Summer Bird winner of the same races his sire won in 2004, the Belmont and Travers.
Then we have the super filly Rachel Alexandra winner of the Kentucky Oaks, Preakness, Haskell and Woodward.
Say what you might about the individual races this years crop of three year olds is about as good as they get. Triple Crown winner notwithstanding.
If you go back and screen the classic races you'll see that even in his losses Mine that Bird, a come from behind kind of runner, could have won the Preakness and the Belmont but for racing luck and the possibility that his throat problem already existed, but didn't show up until later. It was a throat and breathing problem that led to an operation to correct an entrapped epiglottis and forced him to withdraw from the Travers Stakes at Saratoga.
The excitement in this years racing is a combination of things, Rachel Alexandra being a big part of it, but between Mine that Bird and Summer Bird a lot happened in the area of breeding. It isn't every year that a Birdstone comes along, that sire has now matched Count Fleet the 1943 Triple Crown winner in American Classic Victories.
Of course the 2009 season is not over yet, presently though there's some R & R due for Trainer Chip Woolley to let that broken leg mend and get off his crutches. And Mine that Bird's rehab from surgery.
Following that rest period Chip Wolley and Mine that Bird will be heading to Santa Anita for a start in the Goodwood over the synthetic surface on October 10th and later the five million Breeders Cup classic over that same course in November.
Rachel Alexandra has opted out of races over the synthetic track called Pro-Ride Surface for that reason only. And that makes me wonder how Mine that Bird and Summer Bird will handle that synthetic track. For the answer we'll just have to wait and see.
Writers Notebook:
'Nobody ever mastered any skill except through intensive, persistent and intelligent practice.' Norman Vincent Peale. The quote is from his famous book 'The Power of Positive Thinking.'
John Steinbeck mentions practice a number of times in 'Steinbeck: A Life in Letters.'
Here's one of his quotes. '...I want to start on my long novel -- the one I've been practicing for all my life. It is the Salinas Valley one. I think that if I'm not ready to write it, I never will be.'
Steinbeck was referring to 'East of Eden.'
Those are common sense reminders that some writers seem to ignor. Look at it this way, assuming you have some writing talent, how much better your work could be if you actually practiced and worked on your craft?
Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com
http://TheHurricaneHunter.blogspot.com
A phrase Paul Harvey made famous, 'the rest of the story' fits into the research and writing of 'Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone' and made it possible to tell all of the Doc Holliday story.'
It was a storytelling technique I hadn't considered until a New York editor suggested that I might write a story about the story. It made perfect sense once I thought about it. Now this part of the story would be pure fiction, which would be in another time and another place. However, the content of that part of the story would deal with the facts as they had actually happened years before.
Over a period of time I decided what kind of information the reader needed to make a connection between Doc Holliday's world in the 1800's and the current story about the story.
Doc's romantic interest Mattie Holliday, became a nun Sister Mary Melanie and lived until 1937. I had already determined that Sister Melanie and Margaret Mitchell were cousins as well as close friends. And during my research into the book 'Gone With the Wind' I became aware that Ms. Mitchell had used Sister Melanie's stories about hers and John Henry's life as background in establishing some of her characters in the book.
It would be great if I could sit down and talk to Margaret Mitchell, but that was impossible since she was killed in a tragic automobile accident in 1949.
Why not go to the source, Sister Mary Melanie? An interview or a series of interviews with Sister Melanie and a young reporter. The characters in my story about the story would now be an elderly journalist and a writer/producer researching the Doc Holliday story.
(To be continued)
2009 Horse Racing update:
There was no Triple Crown winner this year but there was still plenty of excitement about racing.
Birdstone, 2004 winner of the Belmont and Travers Stakes sired two of the 2009 racing stars Mine That Bird winner of the Kentucky Derby and Summer Bird winner of the same races his sire won in 2004, the Belmont and Travers.
Then we have the super filly Rachel Alexandra winner of the Kentucky Oaks, Preakness, Haskell and Woodward.
Say what you might about the individual races this years crop of three year olds is about as good as they get. Triple Crown winner notwithstanding.
If you go back and screen the classic races you'll see that even in his losses Mine that Bird, a come from behind kind of runner, could have won the Preakness and the Belmont but for racing luck and the possibility that his throat problem already existed, but didn't show up until later. It was a throat and breathing problem that led to an operation to correct an entrapped epiglottis and forced him to withdraw from the Travers Stakes at Saratoga.
The excitement in this years racing is a combination of things, Rachel Alexandra being a big part of it, but between Mine that Bird and Summer Bird a lot happened in the area of breeding. It isn't every year that a Birdstone comes along, that sire has now matched Count Fleet the 1943 Triple Crown winner in American Classic Victories.
Of course the 2009 season is not over yet, presently though there's some R & R due for Trainer Chip Woolley to let that broken leg mend and get off his crutches. And Mine that Bird's rehab from surgery.
Following that rest period Chip Wolley and Mine that Bird will be heading to Santa Anita for a start in the Goodwood over the synthetic surface on October 10th and later the five million Breeders Cup classic over that same course in November.
Rachel Alexandra has opted out of races over the synthetic track called Pro-Ride Surface for that reason only. And that makes me wonder how Mine that Bird and Summer Bird will handle that synthetic track. For the answer we'll just have to wait and see.
Writers Notebook:
'Nobody ever mastered any skill except through intensive, persistent and intelligent practice.' Norman Vincent Peale. The quote is from his famous book 'The Power of Positive Thinking.'
John Steinbeck mentions practice a number of times in 'Steinbeck: A Life in Letters.'
Here's one of his quotes. '...I want to start on my long novel -- the one I've been practicing for all my life. It is the Salinas Valley one. I think that if I'm not ready to write it, I never will be.'
Steinbeck was referring to 'East of Eden.'
Those are common sense reminders that some writers seem to ignor. Look at it this way, assuming you have some writing talent, how much better your work could be if you actually practiced and worked on your craft?
Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com
http://TheHurricaneHunter.blogspot.com
Tom's 'RocktheTower' Blog
I do a variety blog and post every Wednesday. I am an actor, writer and hurricane hunter and my subjects are generally written about those fields. During Hurricane Season I do at least one story every
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